Washington, 30 April 2026 (dpa/MIA) - US President Donald Trump took aim at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz again on Thursday over his criticism of the war in Iran.

Merz's unguarded comment earlier this week suggesting the Iranian government has "humiliated" the United States in negotiations prompted an angry response from Trump, who has threatened to withdraw US troops stationed in Germany and aimed volleys at the chancellor on his Truth Social platform. 

In his latest post on Thursday, Trump said Merz should "spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (Where he has been totally ineffective!), and fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy, and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place."

Berlin has sought to defuse the situation, with Merz saying on Wednesday that the two leaders' relationship remained "as good as ever."

His conservative ally Markus Söder, the premier of Bavaria, said he wished for both sides to "remain cool" amid the furore. 

Söder noted that Germany is a "key strategic base for US forces in the whole world," hosting Washington's largest training base in Europe. 

"The American forces feel very much at home in Germany," the Bavarian leader told the Bild newspaper. 

Trump previously threatened to reduce the number of US troops stationed in Germany during his first term from 2017 to 2021.

According to US military figures from mid-April, around 86,000 US soldiers are currently stationed in Europe, including some 39,000 in Germany.